We are doing depth and complexity investigations in math workshop this week. This week is the "Polar Bear Problem." Kids are figuring out what details from a problem they will need to make a plan to solve the problem. They will decide what rules they need to follow and if they can use patterns to help them solve it. They work in teams and present their work to the class.

You can support them at home by talking about how you solve problems. An example might be, you are putting batteries in a toy. The batteries are sold in packs of 4, and you need 6. How many packs do you need to buy? Show them how you figure it out, and encourage any contributions they make to the process, even if it isn't exactly right. The idea is to get them thinking about how to solve problems and get comfortable with taking a risk and try to participate.

No school on Monday in observation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

In math this week, we are focused on further developing clear understanding of numbers 20-100. This includes recognizing the patterns in counting by 1's and skip counting, and knowledge of place value.

You can support at home using math games in abcya.com at home. Also, counting with your kids, using skip counting and counting by 1's for fun.

This week in math, our aim is to solidify the previous work we've done learning to skip count. So, we will really focus to strengthen counting by 2's, 5's, and 10's in math. One fun way to reinforce this at home, is to find things that make sense to count by 2's, etc. For example, while doing your laundry, you might gather up all your child's socks and first you could work with your child to count the individual socks, then sort them into pairs and count them by 2's. Bonus! The words count, pairs, and twos are vocabulary words we'll be working on, so you'll be reinforcing those as you do the laundry!

This week is our last week before break! We will finish up the semester with a focus on base 10 with an emphasis on tens and ones. We will be playing a game called Riddle Me This where the kids will be solving riddles that include the concept.

To support at home, you can use starfall.com, and abcya.com to work on math games with your child. They get to use this in class on occasion and really enjoy it.

The conference sign up was closed Friday at 4pm, and if you need to coordinate a conference time, email me at [email protected]. 

In math, our objectives for the week are: using story problems to add and subtract, add and subtract fluently and quickly within five, and with objects within ten. Ways to support at home are to find opportunities when you are eating or playing with your kids to have them take some items, count them, put some more, count those and then see how many there are all together. We are talking about taking numbers apart, so also show them how you can have a bunch of things, take some away and see what is left.

This week in math, we will work with decomposing numbers 11-19 into tens and ones. To support your child at home, when they are playing with a quantity of items greater than ten, you can demonstrate making groups of ten, count how many groups of ten there are, and then how many ones you have left over. You could ask your child to write the final numeral that represents that quantity, or if they aren't confident enough to write it yet, write it for them.

 

This week we are working on place value and writing big numbers.

This link is to a really catchy tune that we use in class. https://youtu.be/uedvwH6Ay18

You can also use items around the house like all those tiny little toys that come in large quantities that kids win from carnivals, or cereal pieces and sort them into groups of ten. See how many are left over once you have the groups of ten. Support your child as they write how many groups of ten there are and how many ones are left over.

This week in math we are wrapping up patterns and progressing further with skip counting.

This week in math, we are reinforcing patterns and using it to support further skip counting.

In math, we are working on teen number skills.

For math this short week, we are comparing numbers. 

No school on the 27th or 28th, and I look forward to seeing you at conferences.

Happy Fall!

In math this week our goal is skip counting by 10s to 100 or more if possible.

In math, we are still working on staying organized when we do math for accuracy. We are also working on correct number formation, where necessary. Practicing counting on from ten, working with teen numbers, and thinking about numbers in different ways.